The 2011 Biotech Graveyard

It's that time of year again; time to visit the biotech graveyard to reflect on the developers whose businesses have in one way or another failed. There's a common theme among many of this year's graveyard companies: most of their problems started in 2009, which was one of the toughest years on record for biotech. (It was also the first year of the biotech graveyard; we said farewell to a record 16 developers that year).

Many of these companies are reminders of how difficult the biotech game is; one failure in the clinic nowadays can ruin a small drug developer, and limited supplies of capital have made some investors extremely conservative with their bets on teams that have faltered with previous R&D programs. Yet what makes this industry difficult also makes it great; success in biotech beats the odds and can improve the lives of patients.